Beyond Life, Beyond Death and Beyond Time
by Bl4ckHunter
Summary: (AU.) When Chloe Price finds out that her childhood friend has become a victim of a serial killer, she and her best friend/girlfriend, Rachel Amber are hellbent on getting justice. But how far will they go to find the truth and what awaits them in the end? Rated M for violence, sex, nudity, language, suggestive themes etc. I do not own LIFE IS STRANGE video game.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**_

 _I do not own the rights to the video game **Life is Strange**. This fanfiction novel is only for entertaining purposes and is inspired by **Hannibal Lecter** and **Dexter** (TV series) and **Frequency** (2000 film and from it derived 2016 TV series)._

* * *

 **2008**

"Chloe, I don't wanna leave you but Dad…" Max tried to calm her best friend down.

"Fuck you, Max! If you had given a shit about me, you would have stayed for me but you decide to bail just when I'm at my worst! You know what? I hope you're going to be happy in Seattle because the only way you're going back here is in a body bag!"

Max felt like if she had been stabbed in her heart with an icy dagger as her eyes started to fill with tears of pain. Max tried to come up with anything to console Chloe but her emotions had betrayed her.

Joyce then ran to diffuse the situation. "Chloe Elizabeth Price, you are going to take that back right now and apologize to Maxine!" She held Chloe's arms while her daughter glared at the freckled brunette. If looks could kill, Max would have already dropped dead.

Suddenly a car horn sounded outside. "Well, here's your ride to the good ol' Seattle." Chloe said with venom in her tone.

Max attempted to calm her down. "Chloe, I…"

"Just go away and go fuck yourself, Max. Hope you'll find better friends there than I was to you…"

Max started to sniff and was on the verge of tears as she realized how disgusted Chloe was by looking at her. Max was already leaving but before she closed the door, she wanted to mend some fences with Chloe as she spoke up with tone full of hurt now. "Chloe, I'm so…"

"Just get the fuck out and go to Hell! I don't ever want to see you again!" Chloe snapped and threw a flower vase at the door. Max panicked and closed the door, running to her parents' car, full of hurt and loneliness suddenly.

* * *

 **2013, water tower near Arcadia Bay**

A couple of young boys were playing football in the forest and one of the boys overestimated his strength as the ball rolled down the hill when he threw it too far.

"Logan!" Zachary groaned in frustration.

"It's fine, I'll come get it!" Nathan reassured his friends as he went searching for the ball. Soon enough he found it and wiped the dirt off it. He was on his way back when he noticed something strange near the dam.

Along the current of water at the shore of the stream of water, a girl lying… _naked_?

"Hey, don't you know they can arrest you for tanning topless here?" Nathan yelled. But the girl did not even react. Nathan tried to call out again but again he got no answer. He was afraid she would end up calling him a perv for violating her privacy but he just did not want her to get into trouble. Nathan went down the hill and approached the girl slowly. "Miss? You should put something on you because…" Nathan paused as he noticed that the girl was pale as a ghost, bruises, scratches, dirt, mud, leaves and branches all over her naked body.

Nathan suddenly felt like if somebody was shaking his stomach like a bottle of soda as he covered his mouth in disgust as he turned the brunette on her back and he noticed that on her back was flesh missing, with the wounds in the shape of butterfly wings.

The girl was pale as a ghost as she stared lifelessly in the sky.

"Holy shit!" Nathan groaned in disgust as he vomited on the ground from looking at the freckled face a moment later.

"Nathan! What's going on?" Logan called.

"Get the cops!" Nathan yelled, horrified and disgusted from the look at the dead brunette.

* * *

"What do we have?" Officer Berry asked the coroner.

"No prior records, so no match on prints or DNA. Yet." Coroner sighed. "But I'd estimate her age at around 18-19."

"Cause of death?"

"In her blood are traces of benzodiazepine. Safe bet would be overdose. See how blue is the skin on her lips and fingernails?"

Berry looked at the photo on which was the girls' back, covered in scratches and bruises.

"My God…" Berry gasped. "Who could have done such thing to a young girl?" The thing that disgusted him the most were the two long wounds in shape of butterfly wings from which was skin missing and he could see the pale red flesh.

"Are you sure there's no way to ID her?" Berry asked.

"I'm positive…"

Suddenly, there was yelling from the corridor. "You can't just barge in like that!"

"Watch me!" The man said with moustache and short haircut, wearing a coat burst in, frustrated. "I need to take a look!"

Berry sighed in frustration. "You could not have waited, David?"

"I need to take a look." David repeated impatiently. The coroner was about to retort but Berry just nodded for her to step aside. David approached the dead girl on the table, looking closely at her freckled face and suddenly he grinned, leaving the coroner's office.

"You know her?" Berry asked but David did not answer. "Hey, Madsen! Where are you…"

"To Price's."

"' _Price_ ' as in ' _Chloe Price_ '?" Berry exclaimed.

"Yeah."

Berry sighed again as he wiped his face as he looked at girl again, and suddenly, recognizing her too. "Oh, no…"

* * *

David and Berry rang and waited at the doorstep of Price's house as Joyce opened the door and as she realized who the visitors were, she sighed. "What has she done now?"

"She's not in trouble this time, Joyce." Berry reassured her. "But would you mind if we go through some of Chloe's old stuff and your old photos?"

The widowed mother nodded, confused as she let the two men in. "What's going on, Andy?"

"What can you tell us about Maxine Caulfield?" David asked and Joyce suddenly flinched, as the immediate fear of the worst took her over.

* * *

 **Abandoned Lifeguard's Post at the Beach**

Rachel kissed the blue-haired girl in front of her again while the bluenette lunged at her again and Rachel wrapped her legs around her lover and embraced her like a koala climbing a tree. The bluenette buried her face into Rachel's breasts and caressed the blonde's stomach while running her hand down as Rachel moaned in excitement.

Rachel then suddenly grabbed Chloe's hips and started to slowly bury her nails into her as Chloe started to tremble and laugh uncontrollably. "Oh, you're such a mean bitch!"

"You haven't seen ' _mean_ ' yet!" Rachel flipped and suddenly she was the one lying on her lover as she massaged Chloe's breasts. Chloe arched her back and tensed as her lover got up and started to taste Chloe's skin on her shoulders with her tongue. But suddenly Rachel's phone buzzed and she growled in frustration. "Are you fucking shitting me?!"

Rachel picked up her phone. "Hey Mom. What's going…" Suddenly she frowned. "I'm with my friends, why? * scoff * Who knows where she is? I guess Chloe's being Chloe." She glanced at her lover as both of them chuckled.

"I'm fine, I swear, Mom, why do you… What?" Then she looked at Chloe, horrified. "Sure, I'll call her… I'm sure she's fine, Mom, don't worry." Then she frantically searched for her clothes and undergarments as she got out of the towel covering her and Chloe's nude bodies.

"What's happening?" Chloe asked, confused.

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know but there are cops at your place and your Mom is really upset and scared as hell. I think you need to go home now. It looks like it's serious, Chloe."

Chloe nodded as both of the girls dressed up quickly. As both of them drove to Chloe's house, they saw red and blue lights and a police car parked in front of her house. Chloe's heart started to beat faster and faster as she left her truck and rushed in. "Mom! Mom!"

She saw her neighbor and Berry comforting her mother, who was still in shock and disbelief, sobbing. Chloe could tell things were serious and was horrified of what was happening. "Mom, what's going on?"

Joyce was unable to speak. "M… Ma…"

Suddenly someone grabbed Chloe's shoulder from behind and she turned around in surprise, seeing the private investigator looking at her with pity and understanding. "David? What's going on?"

"Can I talk with you somewhere private, Chloe? Please."

Chloe could feel her chest hurt as she started to breathe erratically, her fear taking over. She went with David upstairs and entered her room as she sat down on her bed. "What is going on?"

David knelt in front of her and laid his hand on Chloe's shoulder. "Chloe. It's about your friend, Maxine Caulfield…"

Chloe suddenly inhaled, shocked. "Max? What… what does it have to do with Max?"

"According to Joyce, you haven't talked together for five years, correct?"

Chloe nodded, then she repeated her question. "Yeah. What does it have to do with Max?"

David sighed. "I'm sorry, Chloe but this afternoon they found her body outside the town. She's gone."

Chloe's body tensed as she opened her mouth and gasped in disbelief, interrupting the private investigator. "Wh... what? Max… Max is…" She shook her head. "No… No… She cannot be…"

David sighed again. "We did a DNA match on the medical records here and in Seattle. It's her. I truly am sorry, Chloe." David handed her a photo of the dead girl and as Chloe looked closely at the face, the freckles, those big blue eyes, the brown hair...

"Oh, God, no!" Chloe put her hand on her mouth, sobbing and curling to the ball. Suddenly she was filled with disbelief over the fact that someone would kill the young, nosy, curious girl with a love for photographs and the guilt as she remembered her last words she ever said to her former best friend from childhood.

' _I hope you're going to be happy in Seattle because the only way you're going back here is in a body bag!_ '

Right now, Chloe wished she could take those words back. The private investigator embraced her and did the little he could to comfort her.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're very brave to come here, Chloe. I know this cannot have been easy for you." Officer Berry reassured the punk girl, who was still tensed in shock, while her girlfriend was holding her hand for whatever emotional support she could provide.

Chloe sighed. "Let's just get this over with. I need to know for sure."

The medical examiner, the policeman and the private investigator looked at both girls with sympathetic look as he unveiled the corpse and as the girls looked at the face of the brunette.

"Max…" Chloe covered her mouth in horror and recognition and broke down in tears. "I'm so sorry for what I said. I know it was not your fault…"

"You have my sympathies, Miss Price." David glanced at the blonde girl and at the corner to talk in private. Rachel nodded as she followed the PI while the coroner and the police officer were comforting her girlfriend.

"Who did this to her?" Rachel crossed her arms and sincerely worried about her lover as she looked back at mourning Chloe and her dead childhood friend.

David took a breath. "In her blood, we found traces of a sedative. The most probable cause of death would be OD. And…" The private investigator glanced at Berry for a moment as he nodded.

"Rachel. What I tell you must stay between and ONLY between us. At least for the time being." The girl nodded as he continued.

"Someone skinned her back. The wounds are in shape of butterfly wings. And…" The cop pulled out a photo of Max's shoulder on which she had a small burn mark in shape of spiral.

Rachel suddenly covered her mouth in disgust and horror as a memory she had been trying to bury suddenly resurfaced in her mind. "Oh, my God. No."

* * *

 **Two years ago**

 _"You are such a dick, Frank!" Rachel snapped and got up from the bed, putting on her checkered shirt._

 _"What do you mean…" The bearded man shrugged his shoulders, confused._

 _The blonde showed him the bag with cash and the pills inside. "You said you were finished with selling that shit! You promised me that you would not lie to me about this again!"_

 _Frank sighed. "Rachel, it's not that simple…"_

 _"Let me simplify it for you then! Drugs, or me! Either this goes out of the window right now, or I am walking out this door and never come back here again!"_

 _"You think I haven't been trying to find a decent job? You know it's not that easy for me…" The dealer has tried to explain himself._

 _"Don't even try to use these lame excuses on me, Frank!" The blonde buttoned her shirt and grabbed her bag but at the doorstep she got grabbed from behind and tossed onto the bed._

 _"Don't you dare walk away from me!" He ripped Rachel's shirt and her pants as he started to squeeze her breasts and insert his cock into her crotch, while she groaned in pain. "I thought you had been enjoying this. How's that feel now?"_

 _The younger girl cried out in pain and fear. "Frank, please, no! Stop!"_

 _"You said that I should choose between you and the drugs, so here's my choice!"_

 _"Get the fuck off me! I said, let me go, you asshole!"_

 _The blonde cried out in panic and in desperation she grabbed a nearby lamp and knocked her boyfriend in his head with it. Frank grunted as he fell off the bed while Rachel got up and covered her bare breasts._

 _"Have you completely lost your mind, Frank?!"_

 _The unstable dealer groaned, covering his head, from which was blood streaming and let out a gentler tone. "Rachel, I'm sorry, I did not mean to…"_

 _"Stay the hell away from me, or the next time, I'm calling the cops on you! Bastard!"_

 _Rachel had no intention of walking home with her ripped shirt, through which the people would see her exposed small and elegantly curved breasts, so she grabbed Frank's spare jacket to cover herself and put on back her pants._

 _"Please, don't be like that, Rachel. Rachel!"_

 _Rachel banged the door behind her and walked down the street and took a shortcut through an alley. Suddenly she noticed a long shadow covering her as she looked down on the ground._

 _Rachel sighed. "I told you to stay away or I call the cops!" She turned around and pulled out her phone as she saw a man in a hoodie following her._

 _She took a deep breath. "Frank, I'm going to say this just one more time. Walk away. Now. This is your last chance."_

 _After a few seconds, she started to dial 911 but the man in the hoodie ran to her and knocked her phone off her hand and pinned the blonde to the wall. Rachel tried to struggle, to no avail._

 _"What the fuck? Let me go, now!" The man in the hoodie pulled out a knife and with swift move he ripped her jacket as Rachel suddenly felt the cold air on her bare chest. "Help! He-"_

 _The mysterious man grabbed her by her throat to silence her and pulled out a cigarette lighter in spiral shape and branded the blonde's shoulder. She let out a muffled scream of pain and started to shake uncontrollably but the man holding her was too strong. The man then turned her around, pinning the topless girl with her back turned to him._

 _"Rachel!" She heard Frank yell._

 _"Frank! Help!" Suddenly she screamed in pain again as she felt a sharp pain on her back and it started to burn suddenly. The masked man was peeling her skin off her back._

 _"Let her go, you son of a bitch!" Frank grabbed the psychopath and pulled him away from her, pulling the gun at him._

 _But the masked man managed to reach for his pocket in his jacket as a loud "BANG" went off and from the pocket started to smoke as the drug dealer froze for a moment and then promptly he collapsed on the ground._

 _The blonde covered her mouth in horror as her eyes started to fill with tears full of pain and horror. The psychopath aimed the gun at her and she suddenly trembled in fear, raising her hands._

 _"No. Please. No. Don't kill me, please, no…" The teenage girl started to weep and beg as she knelt down, breaking down in tears and closing her eyes._

 _After a few moments, she wondered why was she still alive when she felt something soft on her shoulders while whimpering, still feeling the fresh injuries on her back._

 _Then she opened her eyes and saw Officer Berry, holding her by her shoulders and reassuring her._

 _"Miss. You're safe now. It's over." The cop tried to comfort her as he wrapped his arms around her as his jacket was covering her naked body._

 _A few hours later while recovering in the hospital, her parents and her best friend ran to her, hugging her with bear strength, not intending to let her go as she welcomed their physical comfort._

 _Chloe grabbed Rachel by her shoulders as she saw the burn mark in the shape of the spiral. "Rachel, what happened to you? Who…"_

 _"I…" Rachel choked out with the tears spilling out again. "I don't know… Frank… he… he's…"_

 _"I'm so sorry, Rachel…" The punk girl hugged her again, discreetly kissing Rachel's neck. "I was worried about you. I love you so much…"_

 _The blonde whispered to Chloe's ear. "I love you too…"_

* * *

"No. That's not… Are you sure?" She could feel the cold tears streaming down her cheeks as her hands started to shake.

"The M.O. fits. There were traces of a sedative in Max's blood. The same one from the syringe that son of a bitch dropped when he was after you." Both of them gave her the understanding look again and David gently held her hand, trying to comfort her.

"But why now? It…" Rachel shook her head in denial. "It's been two years."

"He may not have been in Oregon anymore but we've got at least three confirmed killings with the same pattern in different states over the past two years." David explained.

"Teenage girls, art students or majored in it, out of the sudden vanished and a few days later found dead, stripped nude and backs skinned, with wounds in shape of butterfly wings and a spiral brand on their shoulders.

The autopsy confirmed that all of them were drugged with the similar shit. That bastard used various versions of whatever cocktail that was he wanted to use on you."

"As far as we know, there is only one victim so far who has survived him, if I don't count you. Katherine Beverly Marsh. From religious family in California.

The FBI is bringing her in for questioning here as we speak. She is supposed to attend the Blackwell Academy here next semester."

"The other ones are: Victoria Chase, Juliet Watson and Stella Hill. The only apparent connection is that they either studied or recently majored in Arts and were obviously good at it.

Miss Chase was focused on becoming a photographer, Miss Hill wanted to become a painter and Miss Watson was aiming to become a writer.

Did you know either of them?"

"Well…" Rachel thought about it for a moment. "Not personally but I've read about their work. They were really good in the art schools they all attended." She then turned to her girlfriend, who was currently in mourning. "Do Max's parents know what happened?"

"They are on their way here." The policeman confirmed.

"How did this even…"

"From what we could find out from her parents and her friends, Max was on her way back here to visit Chloe again. In the motel room where she spent the night we found her backpack, her polaroid camera and her cellphone and her diary.

The forensics found out that she left numerous calls to Chloe."

"Jesus, they all must have gone to voicemail." Rachel wiped her face. Just rarely would Chloe check her cellphone during a normal day.

"Also, she got missed calls from Dana Ward, her roommate and her boyfriend, Warren Graham, back in Seattle. Turns out that last week, both of them reported Max as missing because she had not reached out for the last few days."

"Would you mind if we…" Berry glanced at the grieving punk girl, the tears raining down her eyes as she still stared at her deceased friend, still in disbelief.

"I think that she needs some time for herself right now." Rachel noted. "Who found the body anyway?"

Berry pulled out his notebook. "Nathan Prescott." The girl scowled at the mention of his name. "Before you say anything, we have already talked to him and there are couple of witnesses who can back him up as his alibi and besides, his parole officer would know if he was doing something creepy again.

And you and I both know that his father does not want to have anything to do with any shady business his son might be in."

Rachel swallowed hard and sighed as she turned to her girlfriend again. No amount of her support can help Chloe this time.

Meanwhile, the bluenette laid her head on her hands as the tears full of pain and hurt and guilt streamed down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Max… I should have called you to say that I never meant any of those things I said. I wish I could take it all back… I wish I could turn back time and say that I'm sorry…

I know that none of this is your fault… God, what do you have to think of me right now?"

The blonde then approached her girlfriend slowly and unsure. "Chloe, I… I don't really know what to say. I… wish you did not have to go through that."

"This is all my fault. I never should have told her all those things… I told her that I want her dead for leaving me but I know she never meant to… I should have called her and say that I'm sorry.

God, I'm such a fucking spoiled idiot!"

"Chloe, you can't blame yourself." Rachel tried to comfort her.

The investigators then approached the girls. "Chloe. We'll get justice for Max and find that bastard. You have our word. The Butterfly just took his last life."

' _Because I'm going to find that son of a bitch and I'm gonna kill him…_ ' Chloe held Max's hand strongly, vowing to avenge her.


	3. Chapter 3

Max's parents and her friends were notified the following day. Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield, Dana and Warren arrived to the morgue to confirm the identity of the deceased girl and as the coroner unveiled the body for them, they all were shocked, all of them expressing their own form of grief, disbelief and denial.

"Oh, God, Max…" Dana covered her mouth, crying while the mother sobbed into her husbands' shoulder as he held her hand, trying to comfort her and swallowing hard.

Warren just stared in shock and disbelief, trying to keep his emotions in check. "What… who..."

The investigators let them grieve in peace for a moment before they started to approach the mourning party.

"We understand that it must be hard for you at the moment but in order to get to the bottom of what happened, we need to ask you all a few questions." Max's friends and her parents nodded.

"When was the last time you have spoken to her?" Berry shot out.

"Last week." Dana answered. "She told us she was visiting Chloe and she texted us that she stayed in the motel not far from Arcadia Bay."

"Do you know which motel it was?" David asked.

"I… hold on, she texted me the address." The girl pulled out her cellphone and showed the text message.

David nodded. "I know the place. It's just a few miles from the town, about a half an hour away by car." Berry pulled out his radio and notified the police.

"And no further contact since then?"

"We all tried to reach her…" Warren explained.

"Mr. Madsen…" Ryan gasped out. "Who… who did… who did this to my baby girl?"

Both of the investigators glanced at each other. Here came the worst part. "This… this is not going to be easy to accept but the preliminary report of the autopsy suggests that…" Warren swallowed hard at the mention of the word 'autopsy'.

"That… she was a victim of 'The Butterfly'."

This was the last straw for all of them, the fact that Maxine Caulfield was murdered by a notorious serial killer, wanted for multiple murders of young teenage girls, leaving their nude bodies with skinned back around towns where he had acted, with the scars in form of butterfly wings and into their shoulders having a burn in shape of a spiral.

Dana buried her face, sobbing into the blanket covering the corpse of her best friend, Warren vomiting on the ground and the mother bursting into tears with the father choking out.

"No… that's not possible… not her… not our Max…"

"I'm sorry but it's the truth…" The cop confirmed.

The parents begged. "Do… do you any leads? Any clues? Anything that would get you to that son of a bitch?"

David pulled out his notebook. "One girl who was a hostage of 'The Butterfly' last year in California. A Christian girl, Katherine Marsh. She does not remember much because of the trauma but she could give us a partial description.

The kidnapper was a male, around 30-40s, bearded, long hair. That's all I ever could get out of her when I found her."

"At least you know partly who to look for…"

"I've been after him for over a year now, Mr. Caulfield. I promise, I will do everything in my power and get the best out of my skills to catch him."

"You… you used to be a soldier?" Vanessa whipped, suddenly feeling a faint spark of hope.

"Well… I wasn't a textbook soldier but I did my best and… let's just say I've always worked better on my own."

"Just make sure he will not hurt anyone else. Please." Warren begged.

* * *

While heading back to Chloe's house Rachel suddenly snorted halfway as she sat in the passenger's seat next to her lover.

"What's going…"

"You noticed that somebody's been tailing us since we left the morgue?"

Chloe nodded as she noticed a BMV a street away from her truck that she had seen earlier.

"They are just trying to protect us."

"You know he's going to come back after me, right?"

Chloe suddenly squeezed the wheel. "I'm going to kill every last fucker who as much as lays a finger on you. I won't let you go through that again."

"I know, Chloe. But… I… He came after me, then he got Max…"

"He already took away one of my best friends, the only way he gets to you is over my dead body."

Rachel's hands started to shake again as she tried to calm down, the trauma taking her over again.

"It's OK, Rach, just breathe, it's OK…"

* * *

David and Berry were waiting in the police station as the FBI was bringing in Kate Marsh for questioning.

"I wish she did not have to go through this again…" David sighed.

"How did you even find her?"

"I got lucky, he did not manage to clean up all of his tracks. If I had found her an hour or so later…" Berry nodded.

"Back then I had two choices: take him down for good or save that girl. She was bleeding to death from that torture that son of a bitch put her through when he was going to ditch her."

"Any leads?"

"She remembers only two things about him. That he had a soft, gentle voice and that he had a beard… a goatee."

"That's not much. He could shave himself…"

"I know…" Then the PI noticed the blonde girl in black coat and white shirt, being accompanied by her father and her younger sister. "When he found out I was onto him, he cut the gasoline pipes in the truck and if I hadn't got there in time…" David paused as he noticed a small blonde girl, clearly frightened, entering the police station, being accompanied by her father and her little sister.

"Kate…" David approached her.

"Mr. Madsen, what is it? How can I help you?" She asked in confusion.

David sighed. "Katie. I'm not going to lie. What I'm about to ask you, it's not going to be easy for you and I wish there was another way but I need your help and I need you to remember… _everything_ you can about the bogeyman."

The blonde flinched, suddenly hiding behind her father. "No… I don't want to go back there, I don't…"

"Honey…" Richard Marsh reassured her daughter. "It's going to be alright. The Lord shall give you strength to pull through.

He will not let anyone hurt you again."

"And in case he won't be around, there is still me." The PI chuckled.

"Miss Marsh, if you would follow me." Berry accompanied her to the interrogation room where she sat down as David held in his hand the folder of the Butterfly's case.

"So… Miss Marsh…"

"Katherine, please. Or Kate. Miss Marsh is my mother." The cop nodded.

" _Kate._ I hate to ask you and I'm sorry to put you through this but could you try your best to recall the events that occurred to you during the 22th-25th November 2011?"

"I…" Kate took a deep breath, her hands suddenly sweating and shaking as she felt her heart racing faster and faster. Her father grabbed her hand and did his best to comfort her.

"Breathe, honey. Breathe, it's going to be alright."

After a few moments, the blonde steadied her breathing "I… I only remember feeling… dizzy, then cold… the man had a gentle tone, telling me how beautiful I am but that I can grow into something more. Then I felt the burning on my back…" She started to weep again.

"Kate, it's OK. You're doing fine. Just remember what you can about the bad man. You're safe with us here." David reassured her. "After this, you will not need to go through that ever again."

"There were just a few times I was conscious enough to be aware of my surroundings, I felt gross and dirty and my back hurt so much… I felt the tremors and the cold…"

She remembered being naked, tied up and drugged, with the pain from feeling the cold breeze touching her bare skin as she was inside a truck. "I thought I was going to die… I saw the blinding light and the shadow… and then… I thought I was in Hell…"

Kate broke down sobbing as she could not take it anymore while David himself had too good of an idea what happened next because he was there.

The private investigator tracked down the truck and was onto the Butterfly but when the serial killer had realized he would get caught, he decided to get rid of the tracks as he cut the fuel pipes of the engine of the truck and lighted up the gasoline, letting the girl there to die and make sure she would not talk.

Only by miracle David was able to pull the victim on the verge of death out of the truck before it exploded but the serial killer managed to escape.

"Do you remember anything else? I mean about where did he keep you?" Berry implored.

"I… I smelled… crap. It was… horse crap, I think…" She broke down sobbing, burying her head into her arms.

"The truck was in the countryside." David nodded. There was an abandoned farm nearby but with the animals running around there, the CSI could not get anything to ID our prick."

"And he said…" Kate choked out.

"He said what?"

"I remember that he said that he wanted to see me reborn. That he… wanted to see the beauty of my… innocence…" And suddenly she lost it and became hysterical, not being to continue.

"OK. I think that's enough."

"Shhh, it's OK, honey, it's OK."

David held Kate's arms as he tried to console her. "Kate. I need you to be strong, OK? It's fine, I will not let him hurt you or anyone else again.

He hurt the daughter of my friend and he's going after her friend next. But what you just told me might save their lives. And I'm grateful for what you told us today.

Neither you or anyone else has to go through all this ever again. You can help me protect the other girls he might be after.

If the Lord will not be able to protect you, so help me if I'm not going to be able to stop that monster from hurting you again."

The Christian girl was unable to speak, but she managed to nod.

"I'm going to call Witness Protection." The police officer left the interrogation room.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a rented apartment, a man in his late 30s, wearing glasses, was reading the most recent news articles on the Internet on his laptop.

' _The Butterfly Returns Back to the First Scene of His Crime to Restart?_ '

He chuckled and gloated as he read the following articles.

' _A Teenage Girl Found Dead in the River Outside a Small Town in Oregon_ '

' _The Two Surviving Victims of a Serial Killer Under Federal Protection_ '

' _A Former War Veteran on Track of Ending the Killing Spree and Ending the Body Count of Teenage Girls?_ '

"Let the games begin again, Madsen…"

Then he opened another news article. ' _The Former Popular Photograph Hired As the Guide in Local Art Museum_ '

"I still need to maintain my cover… and then… I'm coming for you again, my dear angel…" He vowed as he saw a photograph of one of the two only girls that were able to escape his grasp. Then he pulled out a binder labeled 'RACHEL', opening it as it was empty.

The other binders were labeled with various names of girls and in each of them was a long piece of peeled skin in shape of butterfly wings.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days after Max's funeral Chloe was at the lighthouse where she used to spend time with her childhood friend as she stared at the sea with her girlfriend.

"We need to find that bastard before he bails town or gets to you…"

"I don't disagree but what exactly is your plan? No way I'm setting myself up as a bait, that would be the dumbest idea you ever had." Rachel shook her head.

"I would not ask you to do it if there was another way but we need to find out who is he going to come after next."

"I don't think he's going to go after Kate because of the feds and if he's smart, he will not try to get to me again."

"We need to start somewhere…" Suddenly an idea sparked in Chloe's brain as she smiled.

The blonde sighed. "I know that look. You know, I hate it when you do that, Chloe. Spill out what's your plan before I grow some conscience and say that it's stupid."

"Well… this is going to hella suck… for me, don't worry…" She noted before Rachel opened her mouth.

' _Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like this either way, Chloe?_ ' Rachel asked herself.

* * *

 _A few hours later in the police station_

"Are you fucking suicidal or just stupid?!" Officer Corn yelled at the drunk topless bluenette, wearing the policeman's jacket, restrained to his table.

"I just wanted to cool it off…" Chloe giggled like a schoolgirl.

" _Cool it off_ '? You call breaking and entering in the middle of the night ' _cooling it off'_? Are you out of your mind? You might as well be painting a bullseye on your back with that freak show out there!" The officer was raged beyond all reason.

Chloe laughed into the officer's face and he glowered at her in disgust as he smelled the alcohol in her breath while she coughed out a small ball of vomit on his pants. "OK, you asked for it! A night in the solitary will help you sober up and knock some sense into your head!" Corn grabbed her by her arm and dragged her through the corridor as he lost his patience.

"You see, that's a place for psycho freaks, not for hellraisers like me, no, no, I belong with my Daddy and my besties in Heaven!" Chloe laughed on, wasted.

Rachel visited the police station as she was approached by Berry and David. "I heard Chloe was busted in the swimming pool. What happened?"

"Someone reported B&E in there because of the broken glass door. We found in her truck bottles of beer. A lot of them. And we found her wet and in… state of…" Berry cleared his throat. "…undress."

"* sigh* I just told her she was worrying too much and that she needed to get some air… I should have known something like that would happen."

"She always did process anger and sadness in an… original way." David smirked while the officer rolled his eyes.

"Just how much would it take to bail her out?" Rachel sighed again.

"No bail this time, Rachel. Not with _him_ out there. She stays here for the night. And frankly, you should too. We're not risking he's going to get to you again.

It was dangerous enough for you to come here at this hour."

Rachel crossed her arms and tried to act frustrated. "Fine. Where can I…"

"There a couch in my office. We'll let you and Chloe go in the morning." Berry accompanied her to his office. "There's also some food and soda in the fridge if you want. If you need anything, just call out for someone."

Rachel entered the office and as the policeman closed the door behind him, she pulled out her phone on which was Chloe's name on the screen. Before the punk girl had been dragged into the cell, she managed to slip her phone into the officer's desk. If someone would ask how did it get there, the police could assume someone else forgot he had put it there.

Rachel patiently listened to what was happening.

" _What the hell are they thinking? Especially after what's been…_ "

" _They're just teenagers. They have their own ways to process grief…_ "

" _I get that but considering what's been happening lately…_ "

" _I know, I know, Andy but Chloe is not like other kids, you know that._ "

" _They need to know that we are doing this for their own good._ "

" _Any news about Max?_ "

" _Only that she got an offer from Sean Prescott in the photographing department here for an internship and that he asked her to help him capture the buildings the Pan Estates were going to sell._ "

" _You don't think his son did this? Isn't he being monitored?_ "

" _No, there's no way he would have slipped under our radar and besides, he's not stupid enough to go after Rachel or Chloe after the last time we caught him…_ "

" _He did find the body though…_ "

Rachel flinched at hearing Nathan's name and instantly hung up. "Son of a bitch."

* * *

In the morning, Chloe went to her truck grunting, with a spare shirt the policemen gave her as Rachel accompanied her.

Behind her, she heard Berry yell. "Make sure she does not drink so much again!"

Chloe groaned and held her head. "Dude, volume!"

Rachel laughed out loud. "I told you this was a stupid idea." She accompanied the punk girl to the car and drove her back to her house and in glove compartment she pulled out some pills and a bottle of water. "For the hangover."

"Next time I suggest getting wasted to lock myself up on purpose, knock me out hard." Chloe growled weakly.

"With pleasure, Chloe." Rachel giggled.

After Chloe swallowed the pills and drank the water, she looked at Rachel. "So, what do we got?"

"You know that Nathan found her body?" Chloe nodded. "Well, turns out that Sean Prescott gave an offer to Max for an internship in the photographing agency he has a share in here."

"If it was not Nathan, I'd say it may be just a coincidence." Chloe snarled at the thought of him.

"My thoughts exactly. But the cops have had him monitored for the entire time and besides, he's got alibi, so I don't think he's our perp. But still, someone should ask him some questions."

"More like ' _beat the answers out of him_ '." Chloe sneered.

"Chloe." Rachel held her hand. "He's got a restraining order against us, there's no way we can approach that idiot without raising alarms and scaring him off."

"His bad for stalking you." Chloe squeezed the driving wheel as she remembered how the cops found in the Prescott's house a photograph of both of the girls making love in a caravan last year through a window with too good of an angle after she reported Nathan for stalking her lover.

Suddenly, Rachel got an idea. "Well, my idea is a teensy little bit better and subtler than yours. But I need to make a call."

* * *

"Are you kidding me? No! No way I'm going near that creep after what happened last year!" The long-haired boy with glasses crossed his arms with pride.

"I wouldn't ask you this if there was any other way, Evan. I'm sorry." Rachel said with an imploring tone, practically begging.

Chloe approached him, her eyes filling with tears, with desperation of a hungry dog as she held his hand. "Please. He… that monster… he killed my best friend, Evan…"

As Evan saw the pain in which the punk girl was, he couldn't help but to feel deep pity for her as he took a small step back, opening his mouth slowly but not being able to say a word. In the end, he gave in and sighed. "Fine. I'll… I'll do it… for Max… and… for you…"

Chloe's face then shined with happiness as she hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Evan. Thank you so much."

* * *

 _Two days later_

"I'm surprised you wanted to apply here, Mr. Harris."

"I… I want to give it a shot. I… I just got a scholarship recently and… I want to apply my skills somewhere prestige…"

"I see…" The personalist scowled, seemingly unconvinced as Evan started to sweat a bit. "Well… how about a week in here? We'll see where that goes."

"When can I start?"

"This weekend." She finally smiled at the young boy. "No need to be nervous, everything is fine. You may take a look around now and meet your colleagues here, if you would like.

You are free to go at any time."

"Thank you." Evan sighed with relief as he shook hands with her. She gave him a tag labeled VISITOR on his shirt as he left her office, being free to tour around the gallery.

On the way out he pulled out a phone and wrote a text.

* * *

 _EVAN: I'm in._

 _RACHEL: You're the boss, Evan xOxO :-)_

 _CHLOE: Try to dig out any info you can out of Prescott and about Max while you snoop around here._

 _EVAN: I'll do what I can._

 _CHLOE: Watch your back and don't get caught or we're all fucked._

 _RACHEL: Be careful._

* * *

' _No need to tell me twice._ ' Evan thought as he looked at the guards around the gallery. Then he noticed a photograph on wall with a blue butterfly flying in the sky as he stopped and admired it for a moment.

"Mr. Harris? Is everything alright?"

"I… What… Sorry, I… I just looked at the butterfly and…"

"I see." The woman nodded. "It was a beautiful photo she made before she sent it to us. Shame about her." The personalist sighed. "To end up as the victim of that monster…"

Suddenly, it hit Evan like a truck. "That picture was made by Max Caulfield?"

The personalist nodded. "She was so ambitious… This picture won us the 'EVERYDAY HERO' contest.

They will give her the prize posthumously in San Francisco this weekend." She shed a tear.

"I didn't know she worked here."

"She did not." The woman wiped her cheek. "She did apply though and sent us the photo for evaluation of her skills. It was very good… Even Mr. Jefferson believed she had great potential and he was considering to make her his assistant."

"Mark Jefferson? The retired famous artist?" Evan's enthusiasm got the better of him.

Again, the woman nodded. "He works here as consultant this autumn, then he's moving back to Los Angeles."

Evan then turned around and saw a bearded man in black blazer and white shirt, wearing glasses, explaining in detail a picture of a deer in a forest with a sun in horizon.

Because of his curiosity, he would have almost forgotten why did he visit the gallery in the first place as he listened to the charismatic photographer if a careless boy nearby did not make a bit of noise.

"Nathan, be careful with those frames!"

"Sorry, there's just too many of them!"

"Just watch it, please! They are custom made!"

The young art student turned around and saw another boy in dark red jacket collecting picture frames on the floor and putting them on the cart. Evan rushed to him and helped collect the frames.

"Thanks."

"I thought you might need help…" Again, his curiosity got the better of him but he tried to be as discreet as possible. "Wait a second, are you…"

"Nathan Prescott. Yeah, the kid who found the dead girl near the river, yada, yada, yada…" He said sarcastically. "Please, I don't want to talk about it."

" _The_ Nathan Prescott who got busted last year…" Evan paused, worried that the boy in front of him would snap but to his surprise, Nathan sighed and glanced down in shame for a moment.

"OK, I was dumb and went a bit out of line, yeah, but I'm trying. Please, just go, I need to get these frames…"

" _Nathan!_ " A man yelled from the corner.

"I'm coming!"

"Do you need help? I mean, I'm thinking about working here and I can take a look around for now and…"

"Thank you but I got this." Nathan brushed him off and walked down the hall with the cart.

Evan went to the personalists' office and clicked on the e-mail browser, where he typed in ' _CAULFIELD_ '.

After going through the mails, there was one thing that piqued his interest and he clicked on PRINT.

Evan then picked a spare key to the safes on the wall and he looked up Nathan's safe. As went through the safe, he saw one thing he was really disgusted with as he groaned while photographing the contents.

But suddenly, he heard voices which were nearing to the office. The dark-haired boy hissed a swear and started to type on keyboard furiously and erase the most recent printed file in the printer's history and putting the contents back into the locker and the key back where he found it.

When the personalist returned, she was surprised to see Evan near the printer.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to print this photo, it looked nice…" He handed the woman a photo of a lighthouse during the sunset as she chuckled.

"Oh, that one is actually Jefferson's most recent."

"I had no idea how beautiful the Bay can be sometimes…"

"Hopefully Mr. Jefferson may teach you more, Mr. Harris."

"I hope you did not mind…"

"No, it's quite alright."

The boy again sighed in relief as he shook his hands with her. "I really look forward to cooperate with you."

"So do I, assuming you'll get accepted here, Mr. Harris."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Evan walked away and as soon as he exited the gallery, he pulled out his phone.

"Chloe. I think I got something. I'll tell you where I'm heading."

* * *

"Are you fucking serious?!" Chloe yelled.

"Yeah, it's legit, me and my friend Brooke checked, and keep your voice down…" The boy with glasses hissed.

The punk girl sneered with fury as she read the e-mail and Rachel clenched her fists as she looked at the photograph Evan left her. According to the timestamp, it was taken three months ago, when she was skinny dipping at the beach in the night, in the moonlight were far too well seen her features, her elegantly curved breasts and the scar on her back, with the waterdrops streaming down her skin, shining just as much as the stars on horizon…

It was almost as if the photographer was just by the shore a few feet away while taking the picture of her swimming naked in the sea.

"He should have gone straight to the nuthouse. He's a fucking creep." The punk girl snarled.

"How the hell did he even manage to get it? I thought he's got an ankle monitor and that the cops have him followed." Rachel roughed up the photo in her hand and threw it in the trash bin.

"At any rate, as much as I hate to admit it, it is a really good one. That's for sure." Evan instantly bit his lip as the girls glared at him at his comment. "It was in his locker." The boy changed the topic to avoid being berated by his unintentional tactlessness.

"That creepy freak. I'm going to fucking kill him…" Chloe sneered as she looked at the photo and read the email again.

* * *

 _Miss Caulfield._

 _On behalf of our gallery, you are hereby invited to an interview in our gallery on 1st October 2013. We look forward to cooperate with such a young talent as you._

 _With regards,_

 _Nathan Joshua Prescott_

* * *

"He's on parole and a junior worker in HR there but he's being on constant surveillance there. I don't know how but he's gotten smarter since he was released from juvie." Evan explained.

' _Smart enough to not to get caught by the cops while stalking us again._ '

"Do you think he bribed the cops who…"

"No. The officers assigned to him are Berry and Corn." Rachel shook her head. "They are too smart to shake hands with his Daddy and you know that he pulled the cord when he got caught.

He did not even bother to send an attorney, just to save his family face."

"Either way, we need to have a chat with him."

"Yeah but how? He's under constant surveillance and if they catch us with him, he's going to jail and then game's over. We get nothing out of him." Chloe smirked and had THAT smile on her face again. "Please, just no more booze or skinny dipping this time…"

"I'll tell you on the way back."

But as both of the girls were walking down the street, in a show window they saw on TV Nathan's apartment and in the front of it were police cars.

"What the fuck?" Chloe yelled.

' _The notorious serial killer gave himself a poetic way out of justice?_ '

Nathan was found dead an hour ago, in his apartment, on overdose and leaving a suicide note with confession of being ' _The Butterfly_ '.

Both of the girls stared at disbelief.


	5. Chapter 5

"You don't think it's a little convenient? That he would commit suicide a few days after we questioned him while he found the body?" David asked Berry outside as the forensics were scouring the apartment.

"I don't buy it either." The cop crossed his arms and shook his head. "It just does not add up."

"The evidence may be compelling but yeah, I agree." Corn noted as he scratched his neck from behind. "Nathan was a member of Jefferson's staff while he was on travel as the judge of the 'Everyday Heroes' contest at the towns where the Butterfly did strike.

And his parole officer did say he had a feeling Nathan may have slipped under his radar a few times but he could not find any proof.

We found in his apartment loads of benzodiazepine and his doctor said that Nathan has been treated for anxiety."

"I don't know… I thought the Butterfly would be smarter than this and besides, Miss Marsh's description does not fit either…" Madsen nodded as he rubbed his chin.

"Maybe the trauma made her memory little… fuzzy? I mean, it's not unusual…" Corn speculated but both Berry and David frowned skeptically.

But then the three of them approached by Lt. Rossi as he patted them all by their shoulders. "Why those beat-up faces? We've finally got that S.O.B…"

"I am…" David and Berry looked at each other. "Just pissed that we could not get to catch that bastard…"

"Yeah, no kidding." Corn snorted.

"Those girls can be glad that the nightmare is over." The police lieutenant chuckled and sighed with relief.

"I should call Rachel and Chloe." David pulled out his phone as he left the crime scene.

* * *

Rachel visited Evan in the art gallery a few days after the Butterfly's case was officially closed as he was watching a picture of a doe in the forest getting hanged on the wall as he smiled.

"These are your pictures, Evan?"

Evan turned around in surprise and saw her friend approaching him. "Hey Rachel." He hugged her. "God, it's been a while…"

"Not too long of a while…"

"Yeah. Well, actually, no. That one belonged to Max Caulfield too but it was in Prescott's office. I thought it was good too and…"

"Yeah." Then she looked at other pictures on the wall. There was Max's blue butterfly which she sent to the gallery, her selfie with her back turned to the camera and on the wall other of her photos, of the lighthouse where she used to spend time with Chloe and it was almost as beautiful as the one Mark Jefferson took, and of a doe walking through the forest.

"They're all Max's. They are hanging them in her memory here."

"That's nice."

"Jefferson dedicated the money to her parents. I wish she was here to see this."

"I'm sure Max would be proud."

Then suddenly, both of them were approached by a middle-aged man with a soft voice. "Evan. Are you trying to give a lecture to this beautiful lady?"

Evan and Rachel turned around as Mr. Jefferson smiled at them. "Oh. Mr. Jefferson, hello. This is my friend, Rachel Amber, Rachel, I would like you to meet…"

"Mark Jefferson." He shook his hand with the girl as he measured her with his eyes, head to toe, while humming as he was going through his mind. "You know, I think you may be a good model in my new series of photographs. Would you like to become my assistant?"

Rachel widened her eyes and smiled in surprise. She had always dreamt to become a model. "Well… I… It's a great offer but… I… I don't know… I need to think…"

"Of course, no need to rush. I'm leaving next week. But before I do that, I'd like to talk to you. I think I might consider taking some of the pictures of such a charming young girl like you.

There's just a very few of the likes of you, Miss Amber. If we may talk later about it later on…"

"I'm sleeping over in here tonight if you want to come." Rachel instantly grabbed a paper and a pen from a nearby desk and wrote down the address as Jefferson smirked in satisfaction.

* * *

Chloe was curled to the ball on the couch in Max's rented apartment as she swallowed another glass of whiskey in her hand.

"I should have been the one to take out that fucker…" The punk girl snarled.

"At least it's over…" Rachel felt some relief for not having to watch her back anymore.

"He robbed me of the justice Max deserved! That motherfucking weasel! I should have hella kicked his ass when I had the chance!" Chloe threw the glass into the wall as it shattered.

Rachel held her arm. "Chloe, stop! Be glad that Max can finally rest in peace and he's finally gone…"

"Fuck that!" Her girlfriend snapped. "I wanted to make that son of a bitch suffer and crush every single bone in his body with my bare hands!"

"Calm down and listen to yourself! That's the booze talking, not you! Besides, you don't want to end up behind bar…" She was interrupted by Chloe lunging at her and throwing her on the table as it crashed into pieces.

"Don't tell me to calm down, you fucking whore!" She spat at the blonde's face.

"Chloe!" Rachel screamed. "Stop it!"

"Make me, ho!" The girl in beanie yelled. Rachel had no idea where did she get the strength but she flipped Chloe over as she lied down and the long-haired girl got up, trying not to let her feelings get the better of her as she gasped out.

"Jesus, Chloe! Don't! I don't want to fight you!"

"And what if I do?!" She snapped.

She knew that this might have been the last straw and was about to back off to give Chloe some space but before Rachel could try any action to cool down the situation, she got pinned to the wall and as she was about to scream again, Chloe pressed her lips maybe far too roughly onto her while she was taking off her girlfriend's jacket.

At first Rachel breathed out in fear from tasting Chloe's lips but as it continued, she eventually gave in and let the punk girl take off her shirt as she raised her arms and then taller girl took off her lover's top and as soon as both off them took off their pants, they laid down on the bed, both of them exploring their lover's fully exposed body.

Rachel wrapped her arms around Chloe's shoulders as their bare chests were pressed onto each other and she gasped out as the college dropout and pot smoker started to sniff her skin on her shoulder and with one hand around the blonde's body she squeezed her breast as Rachel moaned and in her body surged wave of ecstasy while with the other one she squeezed her beloved angel's buttocks.

They both caressed, kissed, touched each other with passion and arousal in between both groans and moans full of one of the kind excitement, pain and satisfaction.

* * *

Later, Rachel was leaning her head onto Chloe's shoulder, both of them lying on bed, stark naked, just like as if they both had just been born. She tasted the skin on the bluenette's tattooed arm and sucked the cold sweat.

Both of them were exhaling intensely with exhaustion.

"Chloe Elizabeth Price, don't ever do anything stupid like that again."

Chloe stiffed out a laugh. "What? Get myself wasted so you can fuck my brains out?"

Rachel giggled. "No, kicking my ass _before_ I decide to fuck your brains out."

Chloe sighed and instantly she felt deep remorse. "I'm so sorry, Rachel. I didn't mean to. You know I'd never hurt you but…"

"It's OK, Chloe. I understand." Rachel kissed her again. "I love you so much…"

* * *

At the police station, the forensics were examining the suicide note left by Nathan while the coroner was performing an autopsy on his corpse. As she looked closely at Nathan's hands, she widened her eyes in realization as she took a photo of them.

While the investigating officer was about to file a report to close the Butterfly Killer's case, the coroner rushed in.

"Andy! Andy!" Berry raised his head to see the medical examiner. "It wasn't Prescott!"

"What?" His eyes shot wide opened.

"The Butterfly! Not Prescott!" The doctor exclaimed in between gasping of exhaustion.

"What do you…"

"Look." She showed the photo of Nathan's hands and a photo copy of his suicide note. "You see those blisters on his left palm?" The cop nodded. "And look at the handwriting on the letter. And compare it with the letters that Prescott signed."

Berry took a closer look at the words on the suicide note and then he looked at Prescott's signature on the other papers. While looking how some of the letters in the words were curved and the ink blurred more in the suicide note not like in the letters…

"The handwriting looks very similar but the suicide note was written by a man with a right hand, not like in those documents..."

"Prescott was left-handed. Whoever wrote that suicide note was not him."

A new wave of horror suddenly took the policeman over. "Oh, Jesus Christ. If Prescott was not ' _the Butterfly_ '…"

"Then Rachel Amber is still in danger."

Berry quickly got out of his chair and pulled out his phone. "David! We have a problem! The Butterfly is still alive! Where are Rachel and Chloe now?"

* * *

Rachel listened to the humming of her girlfriend in the shower as she combed her hair while in looking into her reflection and listening to the rain outside hitting the roof over her head.

Then the girl turned around and adjusted the hair to look at the scar along the length of her back and the small burn on her shoulder left by the psychopath years ago, when her boyfriend was murdered.

' _It's finally over… I don't have to watch my back ever again…_ ' Then she heard the doorbell and called out.

"Who is it?"

" _Mark Jefferson._ "

"One moment!" She searched for her checkered shirt on the floor which Chloe ripped off her like a feral animal due to the alcohol in her system. It barely covered her upper half of her body as she opened the door to greet the elderly photographer.

"Were you celebrating too much?" Jefferson chuckled as she blushed.

"You could say that… What are you…"

"You said that if you were considering my offer…"

"Ohh…" Rachel covered her mouth and blushed even more in embarrassment. "Sorry, it's just that my girlfriend is just in shower and it's… it's just not the right time."

"I understand. I just want to talk for a minute or two, then I'm gone." The girl nodded and let Jefferson in and as he looked around the trashed apartment, his lips curved as he felt some strange form of amusement.

"Do you want some drink, Mr. Jefferson?" She pulled out two bottles of beer from the fridge.

"No, thank you. I have drunk enough after that fiasco with Nathan…"

Rachel nodded. "I can't imagine how devastating that must have been for you… to have him right under your nose…"

"I can't say I'm surprised. He has always seemed… unstable sometimes when I took him in but… it was one thing for him to be sometimes clumsy, creeping and a bit short tempered but this… frankly… it was a whole new level."

"You have no idea. He even had a photo of me and Chloe skinny dipping on the beach last year."

Jefferson covered his mouth. "Oh. That was you?" The teenager nodded again. "He said that you were just some random girls he paid to give him a good pose for his picture." She rolled her eyes in disgust of the thought about Nathan.

"Would you mind if I close the curtains? I would not want for anyone to… disturb us…"

Rachel shrugged her shoulders as the artist went to the window and enjoying the smile on his face in his reflection while grabbing the curtains.

* * *

Meanwhile, Berry and David were in the car with the policeman driving and hitting the gas to the floor while the private investigator was praying to God they were not too late as he held his phone near his ear. But the storm raging outside was making it difficult for them to get to the girls in time.

"C'mon, pick it up, Chloe…"

" _Hello. This is Chloe Price._ " For a second he sighed with relief until. " _Hahaha, bazinga, this is Chloe Price's voicemail! Please, leave a message and I'll call you back, assuming I'm not hella wasted or fucking my brains out with my angel._ "

' _Damn it, Chloe!_ ' The ex-soldier cursed mentally as he hung up and texted her quickly.

* * *

' _Stay put with Rachel. Lock the door and don't let anyone else in besides me or Berry. Madsen._ '

* * *

Then he dialed Rachel's number.

* * *

The apartment was filled with laughter from both the girl and the man who was twice as old as she was while they were both finding mutual attraction to each other while talking about how Rachel could become a great muse of his.

Rachel went to the fridge but as she opened it, she growled in frustration. "Damn it. I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Jefferson but would you mind going downstairs to get some ice?

I mean, trust me, you don't want to be alone with Chloe in one room…"

"I can certainly imagine…" Jefferson nodded as he left the apartment.

Then Rachel noticed that someone was calling on her phone as it lightened up and vibrated on the drawer. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

" _Rachel? It's David._ "

She noticed the urgency in his tone. "Oh, hi, David. Is everything OK?"

" _Are you still at your apartment?_ "

"Yeah."

" _Is Chloe there?_ "

"Uh-huh…" She seemed confused why was the investigator upset when it all was apparently over.

" _Listen, lock the door and don't let anyone inside! Do you underst… * bzzt * …fly is still alive!_ "

"Wait, what? I can't hear you, David!" Suddenly her heartbeat has risen slightly.

" _... are on our way! Do you understand? Stay put, don't let anyone in and not a word to anyone where are you and Chloe sleeping over! The Butterfly is still alive!_ "

Rachel dropped the phone as her body froze completely in shock and horror, not being able to move, literally hearing her heart beat faster and faster suddenly, with the adrenaline bursting into her body as she looked into the mirror, seeing a shadow at the doorstep and as the thunder made her see the man as clearly as in the daylight, her mouth opened wide.

Rachel slowly turned her head to see _HIM_ rush towards her with the syringe in his hand as her mouth opened wide, letting out almost inhuman shriek which would make ears bleed and glass shatter.

* * *

Soon enough after David heard the thud on the other side of the phone call, a scream full of horror followed next, sending the chill down his spine.

" _Aaaaaaaagggghhhhhh!_ "

"Rachel! Rachel!" David yelled.

" _Rachel!_ " He heard Chloe on the phone next. " _Let her go, you fucker!_ "

" _You are not going to stop me!_ " A soft, male and clearly angered voice followed.

Then there were sounds of smashing and thuds in the background as the screams and groans and grunts followed next.

But what followed next, horrified him the most as David suddenly felt like if he was hit in his stomach with a cannonball.

A gunshot and then a cracking of shattered glass…

" _Chloe! No!_ "

" _Don't worry, you'll be fucking her in Heaven soon enough, my dear angel!_ "

" _No! Nooo! Let go of me, you monster! Don't do this!_ "

Then the line went dead after hysterical sobs and pleas for life.

* * *

As soon as Berry and David got into the apartment, what they saw almost made them sick.

Chloe, lying on the lawn, nude, with the rain washing away the dirt from her skin and blood from the wound in her abdomen as she was groaning in pain on the ground.

"Help me…" Chloe sobbed out in agony.

Both Berry and David turned white as sheet from the look of the helpless dropout lying there on the lawn, fully exposed to them.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _This idea was inspired by " **Batman: The Killing Joke** ". Please comment if you remembered it before you read this note, I'd appreciate to know there's a comic book geek out there :-)_

 _I hope you have been enjoying this so far. And before you start wondering and ask me, the answer is: "No, Chloe is not going to end up paralyzed (again) but it's going to hurt like hell."_

 _With regards_

 ** _Bl4ckHunter_**


	6. Chapter 6

"Is she going to be OK?" Joyce asked the policemen and the doctors in front of the hospital room of her daughter.

"Chloe is very lucky, two more inches to the left and the bullet would have nicked her artery and if it was this closer to the right…" The doctor showed his fingers which were very close to each other. The widowed mother gasped and covered her mouth in horror and realization.

"I can't put my little girl through something so awful…" She sobbed.

"It missed her major organs but she needs to stay here and rest for a few days, the glass shards did quite a number on her."

In the meantime, Chloe was under sedation half-awake in her room as detective Tracy Parker was sitting next to her and holding her hand.

"You need to stay strong, Chloe. Please. We can't help her without you…"

While half conscious, Chloe managed to whisper one word while her heartbeat started to rise up slightly.

" _Rachel…_ "

* * *

 _She was enjoying the warm water pouring down her skin, bringing up relief and peaceful thoughts after the exhaustion from making love with her beloved one as she hummed and trying to remember the good times with her childhood friend who she had hoped could finally rest in peace._

 _Chloe had also remembered when she used to run through the garden with Max with nothing but bathing trunks while William was relentlessly bombarding them with the rain from the garden hose as they played water war._

 _Oh, how she misses both her Dad and her best friend…_

 _She may not be able to turn back time and change things but she can try to live better to honor them. Now free from the Butterfly, despite wanting to kill him herself, she can look forward to the new future with her angel._

 _Move away, settle down maybe somewhere peaceful… While Chloe did have her fun with men, the opposite had never attracted her as much as females._

 _'_ _Was I in love with Max back then that I just could not accept for her to leave?' That was a question she will never find an answer for._

 _But living together with Rachel, the girl she had loved above everything else… she must have some plans for her, grow old together and what will they leave behind?_

 _Looking back now, Chloe had realized how much of her life she had wasted and does she honestly want someone else to follow her example? Even her Mom and Rachel's parents had disapproved of their relationship, despite making terms with their sexuality._

 _Well, Rachel, she was more of a bisexual, while Chloe was exclusively lesbian… But should their future really just be about just growing old, sleeping together and hanging around for the rest of their lives?_

 _Their memories should have something more meaningful than that…_

 _But her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by that scream that made her heart stop for a fraction of second._

 _'_ _Rachel!' Chloe yelled in her mind. Suddenly her heart literally stopped for a fraction of second and in another immediate moment, she jumped out of the shower and burst out, not caring about covering her modesty as she saw a tall man holding her love by her arm, and in his other hand a syringe._

 _The punk girl glared at the man with glasses and goatee and a devilish smile on his face as he turned to her, both admiring her boldness and mocking her foolishness for standing up to him, bare naked, all of her features exposed to him in the flesh, the thin yet tensed muscles on her arms, the steep abs on her abdomen, the curved breasts…_

 _'_ _How graceful her bravado is, just like she used to be…' But as soon as he heard the rage in her tone, as from the beast, acting on motherly instinct, he realized he could not let anyone or anything let his effort after all those months go to waste._

 _"_ _Let her go, you fucker!" Chloe rushed at him but the dark-haired man with the glasses dodged, dropping her beloved on the ground as she grunted in pain, it made the punk girl's blood boil double time when she felt the pain pulsing through her entire body due to her nakedness and obvious vulnerability as she missed him and fell down._

 _"_ _You are not going to stop me!" The man yelled, in his tone clear threat and refusal to lose._

 _Blinded by rage, she quickly got up and grabbed him by his arm but he swished his arm to shake her off as she fell on the drawer and shouted in pain as she felt her hip getting hit hard by the dense wood._

 _The adrenaline in Chloe's body and the rage quickly dulled the pain as she tried to jump at him again but because he was about a head taller than she was, it was pointless because he stood his ground and grabbed her and threw her across the room, causing for the mirror to fall and shatter, with the shards scratching Chloe's bare skin._

 _Ignoring the pain, Chloe got up and tried to score a punch but Jefferson dodged her attack by stepping aside lazily as Chloe stumbled and hit her head on the wall. Her vision became fuzzy for a few moments as she got up and leaned onto the windowsill and as she turned around, she saw the barrel of the gun and then suddenly she stumbled as the bullet pierced her abdomen, feeling the scratches on her back as the glass shattered and suddenly she started to shiver as she felt the cold air and raindrops on her bare skin._

 _"_ _Chloe! No!" She heard Rachel's voice._

 _'_ _I'm not going to let you take her as well away from me, you bastard!' She swore in her mind._

 _"_ _Don't worry, you'll be fucking her in Heaven soon enough, my dear angel!"_

 _'_ _You son of a bitch! Get back here and fight back, you fucking coward, so I can kill you!' The rebel tried to get up but the body won over her mind as the cold air and the rain made her naked body go numb quickly as she also saw that her breath was getting cold too and also the scratches from the shards on her entire body and the gunshot wound on her abdomen were clearly seen as the raindrops were washing away the blood._

 _Breathing rapidly as her body trembled due to the shock and the cold air on her bare skin, she turned around and tried to crawl back to the apartment. But in a few moments later, her vision was slowly darkening._

 _Then she saw the red and blue lights nearing her. Chloe had no idea whether it was real or if she was about to go across. At first, she thought she would finally see her best friend and her father on the other side but as she saw the faces of the people nearing her in the faint light, she managed to gasp out._

 _"_ _Help me…"_

 _"_ _Holy God, Chloe!" A gruff voice exclaimed. Then she felt something soft on her back. "Stay awake for us, we'll get some help!"_

 _"_ _Rachel's gone…" Another male voice said. "He must have taken her. All units, put out a BOLO on Rachel Amber, we have a possible abduction! I repeat, we have a possible abduction! We need an ambulance at motel on Puckett Avenue! Also, shut down the city limits, ports, customs, airports, I don't care! No one gets inside or outside Arcadia Bay!"_

 _Then everything cut to black._

* * *

"He took her…" Chloe's eyes started to open slowly. "That bastard took Rachel!" Her blood pressure started to rise as the heart monitor started to beep faster. "I'm going to fucking kill him!"

She was starting to get up but Tracy pushed the injured girl back on the stretcher as she screamed in pain.

"Easy, Chloe, you've got two broken ribs and you were covered in multiple scratches and bruises when we found you and the bullet went right through you.

Had they found you just a bit later, you'd be dead right now."

"That son of a bitch! I need to find him before he kills…"

"We're all looking for her, Chloe but you need to rest." The detective glared at her while Chloe was forced to lay down due to the painkillers in her system. "You, lady, are in no condition to help her at the moment. Leave it to us. We'll find her, I promise."

Then Chloe thought about the bearded man in glasses as she suddenly remembered where did she see him before. Rachel talked a lot sometimes about some talented photographers when she wanted to find someone to shoot some photos of her as a model.

"That artist. He took Rachel! That guy who tried to kill her back then was…"

"Was it this guy?" Tracy showed Chloe Jefferson's photo as she nodded, her blood starting to boil and the anger building up, all of it obviously shown on the monitors in the hospital. "We cross referenced the dates of the Butterfly's killings with the dates of his exhibitions and we found _this_ in his office in the gallery.

We also talked with another of the victims and she confirmed that it might have been him who had abducted her."

She handed Chloe clippings of old news articles from the early '90s in plastic bags.

* * *

' _Sixteen Years Old Student of Entomology Accidentally Killed Herself While Studying Butterflies in the Forest_ '

* * *

In the news article was a photograph of a man with long dark hair and of a young girl who looked a lot like Rachel. As Chloe looked closely at the face, that man looked almost like…

"That man you see there is Jeffrey Kramer, and that's his daughter Angel, mother died giving childbirth. She dreamt of studying butterflies and Kramer was coaching modeling in San Francisco.

As the years followed, he buried himself into the work and neglected her while shooting photos, did not give her as much attention as he should have, he hired babysitters to look after her when he was working with fashion models.

One day, when he was doing nude photos with his models, Angel got so upset by being alone that she ran out of the house to take pictures of butterflies in the countryside but her camera fell into a lake.

Apparently, she wanted to get it back, so she took off her clothes and was about to pick the camera but she must have slipped or something because in the morning the next day she was found on the shore, dead, with a photo of the butterfly in her hand." Chloe squeezed the sheet on her stretcher as she remembered the day when her father died.

' _That girl, she looks so young and innocent…_ ' Chloe also noticed the birth mark on her shoulder in form of a spiral.

"Kramer lost it afterwards, said that he hated his job, that it killed his Angel, he blamed and I quote, ' _the fucking self-centered whores who want to boast how perfect their bodies are and the damned line of work of them exposing themselves pointlessly to the world and the idiots who seek the excitement of fame and capturing the beauty_ '.

He took one of his nude models he photographed that day his daughter died hostage and held her at gunpoint a few days later but before the cops could get him, he sabotaged the gas pipe installation in his house.

Numerous bodies, all of them burned beyond any identification, Kramer was presumed dead.

A year later, Mark Jefferson showed up out of the blue and in the 90's he became one of the most popular photographers and about twenty years later, the Butterfly killings started, with the first one on the anniversary of Angel Kramer's death when he started doing his exhibitions.

All of his victims had branded a spiral mark on their shoulder and according to the old medical records, Angel Kramer had a birthmark in spiral shape on her shoulder.

Do you see the connection?"

"Oh, my fucking God…" The injured girl gasped as she realized the reason why her former best friend was killed. She found the motives of the serial killer so sick and unjustifiable as it almost made her throw up but the medication in her system was dulling the pain so she could only stare in disbelief. As she was about to get up, Tracy pushed her back on the stretcher.

"Chloe, right now, you need to rest. I promise you, we'll find Rachel and get Jefferson."

"I have to…"

"Chloe Elizabeth Price, don't even think about it." The detective raised her voice, almost sounding like her own mother as she put her back on the stretcher. "It's not like you can go anywhere in this state anyway. I know this is hard for you but there's no way you can help your girlfriend right now. Leave it to us."

In the end, she laid down on the bed and sighed in defeat as the tears spilled out.

' _Oh, my God, why does my life have to be so fucked up? Oh, Max, I'm so sorry about everything…_ '

Again, she wished she had not pushed Max away. If she had tried to tell her to come home, maybe none of this would have had to happen.

* * *

As she woke up, she realized that she was feeling the chill on her entire body, her bare skin being prickled by the cold wind, feeling sweaty and weak as the drug was wearing off and her vision started to clear as she realized that she was lying on something soft and a bit rough.

Her first thoughts were. ' _It must have just been a bad dream_ '. But as she was about to wipe her face with her hand, she realized that her movement with them was limited.

' _What the hell? Why are my hands stuck together like with some glue?_ ' Suddenly she also realized that her skin was also itching as something was pricking every single inch of her body and then she realized she was lying on a pile of hay as she started to smell crap in the air.

' _Jesus fucking Christ, am I in a farm or where…_ '

Suddenly the ground under the blonde disappeared and as she screamed, she realized that her hands and her feet were tied together and she was hanging on a hook, her fear laid bare both literally and figuratively.

' _Holy shit, oh, my God, oh my fucking God, oh my fucking God…_ '

Rachel had never imagined to be in both so terrifying and humiliating position, hanging on a hook, stripped, for everyone to see every single detail of her features as the light shined on her over her head.

While she just rarely had problem with shame over being seen naked by the others, as she enjoyed skinny dipping a lot, this felt like a complete nightmare to her because she literally felt like a lamb to the slaughter. Too late she realized she offered herself to the psychopath on a silver platter as the tears of fear and guilt pricked out.

"You have no idea how long have I waited for this, my dear Angel…" Rachel watched the shadow near her, the fear taking over her shame as she saw Jefferson's devilish smile on his face and she broke down in tears, realizing that the inevitable was about to happen soon enough as she was suddenly reliving the memory she had been trying to repress for years.

"No, please, no…" She begged.

The artist sighed as he admired every single detail of her body. "You sound just like she used to. So… vulnerable, so easy to scare…

You would have so much… potential in Los Angeles but the selfish brats like you… you sponge on my skills, just so you can boast around and capitalize on my genius, while I have to make my own sacrifices!" In his voice could be heard pure, relentless hate as he snarled right into her face and her body went rigid due to the cold air and the panic taking over her body.

As the drug was wearing off, the only thing keeping her from moving was her fear.

"I'm sorry. Whatever I did to you, I'm so sorry, please, don't kill me…" Rachel tried to come up with anything to wake up from this nightmare as she broke down in tears.

"Kill you?" Jefferson suddenly laughed out loud as he held his stomach. At first, Rachel thought that he must have had some sick sense of humor. As he vented out the amusement built up inside him while holding his stomach, he again looked at Rachel. "No, no… don't worry, I'm not going to kill you.

I'm going to set your beauty free…" The exposed girl had no idea whether to feel relieved or horrified but she had suspected to be the latter.

"You see, my Angel used to love butterflies." Rachel started to breathe rapidly as she had no idea where this was going but she was certain that it was nowhere good. "She used to talk about how the caterpillars turn into chrysalis and then after a certain amount of time, they are transformed in all their beauty into butterflies as they spread their wings while coming out from their cocoon.

My little girl loved those fascinating creatures as I helped her take those pictures. My dear Angel…" Jefferson shed a tear. "You see, Max reminded me a lot of Angel…"

"Max Caulfield…" Suddenly, the fear was replaced by anger as she tried to shake off her restraints for a moment. "Why? Why her? She never hurt anyone, she was just trying to become as good as you!

You killed an innocent girl, you piece of shit!"

"There are no such people as innocent with the likes of her!" He snapped. The hate was written all over his face. "She would have just buried herself into this! You have no idea how nosy she could be! She'd become obsessed with success, blinded by ambition, not caring about who she would…"

"Bullshit! She was just trying to live up to the example her best friend's father made! They grew up together and he treated Max as his own daughter! She even tried to support her after he died as well as she could!"

"I'm doing these girls a favor, teaching them a lesson that this line of work ruins them! Because of them, my daughter is dead!"

"You know, I used to look up to you!" Rachel snapped, not caring that how much defenseless and vulnerable she was in her current state. "I even considered being your model but seeing how sick and twisted you are… you are nothing but just a pathetic, sad, man who's got just too much anger to throw around, not being able to face his own guilt, so you shift the blame…" She was cut off by the burning sting on her cheek that almost made her ignore the cold on her shivering nude body.

"Don't you dare talk about things about which you've got no fucking clue! You know nothing about the sacrifices I made, you fucking whore!"

"I know one thing about you for certain now." She knew that she was going to die soon, so she intended to make her last words count as she snarled, staring down on the floor made of wooden planks. "That despite your boasting of your skills and talents, despite the talk about being better than those like me, despite all the times you slipped, you are nothing more but a sore loser…

I don't know what have those girls and those artists ever seen in you. When you tried to kill me back then, I thought you were a monster.

Now I realize that you are nothing more than a fucking coward, not being able to take responsibility for his own actions…" The words were hanging in the air for a silent moment.

The psychopathic artist's face was slowly turning red. In the end he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. "To create something new, sometimes means to ruin the old. Don't worry, sometimes, death is a new beginning. You will be reborn as something new and grow into something beautiful…"

He went towards a knife on the table and then he went to Rachel from behind as he started to cut deep into her skin, starting at the place where was her scar as he started to cut a wound in form of butterfly as she whimpered and shivered from the cold, the nerves on her skin pulsing intensely as she started gasping and sobbing uncontrollably from feeling the cold blade on her back and the burning sharp pain.

"You know, caterpillars are interesting breed. They keep eating at first until one day as they keep growing plumber and longer while shedding their skin several times, they suddenly stop and instead they hang from the leaves and or twigs and spin themselves into a cocoon. A chrysalis.

In the chrysalis, their body melts into a goo as the caterpillars dissolve their tissue. If you'd open the shell too soon, all you would see is nasty ooze inside. They need time to turn the tissue into proteins which allow the division of the cells so that the butterfly's beautiful parts can form.

Eyes, antennas, legs, wings…

At the start, there are only a few dozen cells inside and by the time they are finished, there are over tens of thousands of them as the ugly insect turns into such a beautiful creature.

This metamorphosis is fascinating, and my Angel was trying to capture this beauty being created, to see those creatures reborn…

While I was wasting my time with fucking whores just like you!"

As Rachel was about to retort and mock his sick motives, from her mouth instead came out weak scream full of pain as she felt a sharp pain on her neck, numbing her senses into minimum.

At first her back started to burn as Jefferson peeled off her skin but eventually, she felt nothing more but some soft scratches as her vision darkened.

* * *

' _Where the hell did you take, her, you bastard…_ ' Berry and David were examining all their clues they had on the Butterfly Killer on the board back in the police station.

"Kate Marsh said she remembered horse crap. Countryside? Farm?" Berry suggested.

"There are a lot of farms around town. That does not exactly narrow things down. We need something more specific…" David shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey guys. Look." Officer Corn approached them as he pulled out a printed news article from Jefferson's office.

' _Prescott Barn in Auction, Being Cleared Out this Week_ '

"Gotcha now, you son of a bitch." The soldier smirked as Lt. Rossi called out.

"All available units, converge onto the location of the Prescott Barn, the Butterfly Killer may be hiding there! Go! Go!"

* * *

" _Prescott Barn…_ " Chloe whispered in her bed as she heard the radio of the policemen in front of her room while detective Parker went for a coffee. She tried to get up but the pain pulsing through her body was making things very difficult for her.

' _No way I'm going to sit on my ass while that fucker's slowly killing her but I can't help her like this…_ '

"Agh, fuck…" The injured girl groaned as she pressed on her wound on her stomach. Scratches from glass shards on her body, she could take it, these were just flesh wounds but she knew she had to dull the pain coming from her abdomen, otherwise walking would be difficult for her.

She saw the bags of morphine and adrenaline syringes on the drawer of medications and an idea sparked in her brain. But as she was about to get up and take them, she realized that there was an injector with bag full of morphine attached to her arm and that on her chest were attached wires to the heart monitors.

If she tried to escape, she would have to take them off and the heart monitor would show flatline and then she would definitely be caught leaving and then it's game over for her.

No way she can just walk out of the hospital room. The only other alternative was the window. Chloe grabbed the syringe of adrenaline and quickly, she pinched her leg and pressed on the injector, and in a few seconds later, she felt rejuvenated, full of new energy, as her heart rate was starting to become of a running man, almost forgetting how injured she was.

Chloe grabbed the detective's jacket on the chair next to her and she quickly went to the window and opened it, jumping out and leaving the hospital as she felt the wet grass on her bare feet. She saw a nearby ambulance and rushed to it, smashing the window with her elbow and as the glass shattered, she growled in pain as she remembered what just happened to her before she was taken in by David and Berry.

This was not certainly how did she imagine her day would turn out to be as she ran to the ambulance, in pain, cold, half naked, with only a police jacket and a hospital gown, on her way to save her girlfriend.

Hotwiring an ambulance was something entirely new for the punk rebel but luckily the basics of the circuits were similar to normal cars. Soon enough, she started the engine and cheered up. "Hella yeah." She managed to whisper.

She hit the gas with her bare foot and drove away, on her way to Prescott's Barn as she gave herself into her wrist a small dose of morphine to dull the pain.

Tracy went back to the hospital room and as she noticed that the stretcher was empty and the window was opened, she dropped the cup of coffee in her hand.

"Damn it." Then she glared at the stationed officers. "How did this happen?"

The officers looked confused at the empty room. "We thought she was under sedation…"

"Great. This day just keeps getting better and better." The detective growled in frustration and rolled her eyes at their incompetency. She ran through the corridor and pulled out her phone.

"We've got a runner in the hospital! Keep an eye out on a teenage female patient with blue hair…"

* * *

The police neared slowly the barn.

"If he spots all of us, she's going to die." David assessed the situation with the goggles. "We need to be smart and careful."

"I'll come in with you, David." Berry suggested as he put on his bulletproof vest and both of them were entering the barn slowly as they heard whimpering and begging for life over their heads as they saw the blood dripping from the ceiling.

" _Please, I don't want to die…_ "

Both of them sneered in disgust as they saw the girl hanging on the hook naked and a shadowy figure cutting into her with a knife like a butcher.

' _That sick fucker is going down…_ ' David thought. In service, he had seen, practiced and experienced himself various forms of torture but he had never, _ever_ , had to see an innocent girl endure something so horrible and disgusting.

The officer held his gun strongly, wanting to put an end to this nightmare once and for all. He may have failed to protect Chloe and Rachel but he may be able to stop their suffering before it's too late.

Both of them went upstairs and as soon as they spotted Rachel, in the flesh, her perfectly toned body in front of them but in her eyes nothing but pain, horror and agony with her eyes red and tears spilling out like waterfalls.

"Help…" She sobbed out between erratic breathing.

"Let her go, you son of a bitch." Berry aimed his gun. Jefferson said nothing as he now just calmly stood there, his expression saying nothing, holding his knife and in his other hand the cigarette lighter with spiral shape. It was disgusting how… natural was for him to mutilate the girl, defenseless, naked, hanging on the hook, like a butcher gutting a pig.

David sneered in disgust as he neared. "Jefferson, it's over! Or should I call you ' _Kramer_ '?" For a second the man with goatee wearing glasses frowned in surprise. "Jeffrey Kramer? I know who you are and I know what you did and I know what you've lost."

"Then you know that the people such as her…" He glanced at the naked girl. "Are nothing but a blight upon the good people! If these… whores weren't feeding off our talent, our lives would have been better. This world is poorer for having her instead of my daughter!"

"She did not kill her! Let her go!" Berry yelled.

"If you insist…" In a swift movement Jefferson swung his arm and cut a nearby rope as Rachel started to fall and… as she descended, she stopped in mid-air two seconds later and started to shake around violently and choke out when there could suddenly be seen a chain noose on her neck.

"Rachel!" David yelled while Jefferson ran to a hatch nearby which led to the slide for supplies.

"Get him, I'll handle her!" Berry yelled while trying to hold the girl to give her some support before she would choke to death.

David nodded and slid down the hatch into the basement of the barn where was faint light.

"Jefferson! Show yourself!"

" _Why make this easy for you, Madsen?_ " The soft voice echoed through the spacious basement.

"It's over! There are cops all over the place and there is no way you can leave Arcadia Bay now! You can't win this! Give up while you still can!"

A psychopathic, creepy laughter could be heard through the entire henhouse

" _Hahahahaha, oh, David, David, David… The game is not over yet…_ "

"It doesn't have to be this way, Jefferson." He tried to let out as much reasonable tone as possible as he could barely see in the darkness. "If you turn yourself in now, we can help you. I understand that you cannot face your own guilt for Angel but Rachel did not kill her…"

" _Don't pretend to understand what I've lost, Madsen! You have no idea about the sacrifices I had to make!_ "

"Then make me understand!" David gloated.

"My fucking pleasure!" As soon as the soldier saw a shadow covering him, he turned around only for Jefferson to knock the gun out of his hand with a shovel.

The man with glasses swung his arms but the experienced combatant caught the shovel and threw it off his hands, then throwing a punch into his stomach, then another one in his face and then he hit Jefferson in his chin, causing for him to fall down and the glasses to fall off his nose.

Jefferson recovered quickly and grabbed a nearby sickle, causing for the soldier to suddenly stand in defensive stand and wait for his enemy's move. From experience, he knew never to engage an enemy who has an advantage of holding a weapon, always wait for him to strike and seek an opening to counter-attack.

David raised his hands, taunting Jefferson and in anger he swished his arm but David stepped aside and Jefferson managed only to cut into his coat as the PI grabbed his hand and knocked the sickle off, then he twisted his arm while the psychopath screamed in pain as his bones cracked and punched him in the stomach, then David waved his hand and landed a slap on the face.

The private investigator then turned around and hit him in his face with his elbow, then he landed a back kick and finally threw a punch on his chin, causing for Jefferson to fly to a table with tools, knocked out.

"You're finished now, you son of a bitch…" David snarled. As he was about to get the cuffs on his belt, he heard a scream from above.

He saw a naked girl falling onto a pile of hay with chain around her neck.

"Rachel!" He ran to her as she was trying to recover and crawl out from the haystack while grinning and crying in pain.

"Shit, that burns like hell…" David could see the pimples on her skin and the scars on her back, with a new one... he had seen it before already but never freshly done…

Bloodied, red flesh on her back, in butterfly shape and the scar on the spiral burn on her shoulder. It made his stomach boil, even if he was able to keep it together. He brushed the hay off her body and put his coat on her shoulders, covering her body.

"We need to get a doctor before the wound gets infected." As he was about to take Rachel away, he saw the sudden horror on her face as her skin was turning pale and as he turned around, he noticed that Jefferson was nearing them with the gun. The one he had knocked off David's hand earlier.

"Any last words?"

Suddenly on from the left side were nearing towards Jefferson lights, being brighter and brighter as he raised his hands and covered his head, screaming. An ambulance suddenly rammed a wooden wall and knocked Jefferson on the ground, taking him down.

And from it went out the last person that Rachel and David had expected to see. "That was for Max, you motherfucker."

"Chloe!" Rachel rushed towards her and wrapped her arms around her neck and kissing her passionately. "Oh, God, I thought I was gonna die…" She broke down in tears as she sobbed into her shoulder.

"Shhh, it's OK, Rachel, it's over…" The bluenette in police jacket patted her by her back. David stood up and laughed out in relief.

"I would never expect for a stoner like you to end up being a helluva cop, Chloe…" This earned him a sarcastic scornful glare from her but he could see the tears of joy and smile of pride and happiness on her face.

As he heard Jefferson grunt on the ground and noticed he was getting up, David grabbed him by his hands and cuffed him. "Jeffrey Kramer, alias Mark Jefferson, you are under arrest for multiple counts of murder."

The policemen rushed into the basement and as Chloe noticed the pimples on her beloved's skin, she laughed out. "Rachel Dawn Amber, don't ever do anything stupid like that again."

She tried to choke the laughter inside her. "What? Get myself caught by a psycho?"

"No, falling down naked onto a pile of hay and getting a fucking rash." Rachel pounded her into her shoulder but Chloe screamed weakly as the painkillers in her blood started to wear off.

"Sorry." Rachel blushed as Chloe laughed. Finally, the police entered the basement to apprehend Jefferson who the PI grabbed by his cuffed hands and handed him over to the officers.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: (WARNING, Spoilers, do not read if you have not finished the game LIFE IS STRANGE)**_

 _I wish the fight with Jefferson and David went in a similar manner. It irritated me how he was taken out by Jefferson multiple times in the game in **E5: Polarized**. Jefferson is just a psychopatic artist and David is a war veteran. He should have handled Jefferson with ease without Max's help._

 _And for the record, Detective Tracy Parker is an original character from another of my **Life is Strange** fanfiction stories, **Our Lives Are Strange: Requiem** which serves as sequel to another of my stories, **Our Lives Are Strange**._


	7. Epilogue

_**Two months later – Arcadia Bay Cemetery**_

Chloe and Rachel were walking to a cemetery as they approached a grave. Rachel held the bluenette's hand as she knelt down to it and ran her hand on the carving.

* * *

 _MAXINE CAULFIELD_

 _1995-2013_

 _Beloved Daughter and Friend, Gone but Never Forgotten_

* * *

"Hey, Max…" Her vision was getting blurred by her tears as she was again feeling the guilt, sadness and loneliness. "I… I hope you are OK wherever you are right now." Chloe sobbed out and started to gasp as she felt the pain on her chest while letting out the dam of the emotions she had been holding back for years.

"I… I'm sorry I haven't come here earlier. I… I just needed time to process…" She sniffed. "To process everything that has been happening lately and… it's just been too much…" She wiped the tears off her face as Rachel held her shoulder, doing her best to support her.

"I wish I could turn back time and take back what I told you when you left me, I know it was not your fault but… I was never able to admit it to myself… It just was so unbelievable that your folks had to move right after my Dad died and it was so unfair from me to take it out on you when it was not your fault… I pushed you away and what happened…"

Chloe was gasping out the pain, guilt, sadness and loneliness under the breaths and sobs. "You didn't deserve what happened to you and I never should have told you that the only way you'd come back here was only as a corpse…

Please, don't hate me, Max… I know you must believe that I hate you…" As much as Chloe had some comfort from reading Max's journal when the police gave it to her so she could find out what has been going inside her head over the years, it did not make the guilt she felt when she pushed her away any easier.

After what felt like an eternity of mourning and grieving as she let out the torrent of tears falling down her eyes like waterfall, both of them entered Chloe's truck and as Chloe stared into her reflection in the mirror and looking into her sad eyes, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder as Rachel whispered to her softly.

"Chloe. There's something that I have to tell you." As she turned her head, she realized how wide was the smile on Rachel's face.

"A few weeks back, after it was all over, when we were at the party at the hospital, I… I was sort of in a bad spot and vulnerable and I was trying to… forget about all that mess.

And there were also some of the art students, pretty banged up after finding out about Jefferson and… I sort of got carried away… after I sobered up, I realized how much of the jerks those guys were but with those girls was a little fun…" She chuckled and blushed for a moment as she held her stomach, it hit Chloe as she widened her eyes and opened her mouth.

"And then I felt sick and then you started to talk that you don't want for anyone else to grow up and fucking their life up like you did and losing their friends... and I…"

Suddenly it hit Chloe like a truck as she widened her mouth. "You are…"

"I am..." Rachel smiled and then Chloe suddenly stood up and held her with bear strength.

"Oh, God, that is beautiful, Rachel!" She laughed out and both of them were enjoying the news until Chloe realized something.

"Yeah, I know…"

"You're going to be a Mommy!"

"And there is only one person on Earth that I want to help me raise my baby! So, will you help me…"

"Yes, yes and three times yes!" The punk girl tightened her grip.

After they enjoyed their moment of happiness with the tears of joy streaking down the cheeks of both of them, they wiped their wet faces as they let each other go.

"Anyway, I was thinking… the name of my baby, boy or girl, I was thinking about picking the name ' _Max_ '." Chloe shivered at hearing the name. "What do you think, Chloe?"

"It's a hella perfect name for our little rascal, don't you think, Max?" Chloe called out onto Rachel's belly.

But the moment of happiness did not last as the thunder roared in the distance and the dark clouds were covering Arcadia Bay a few minutes later.

"What the fuck? There was not supposed to be any storm today!" Chloe exclaimed and as they saw tornado nearing the town, Chloe hit the gas and started to drive away from the graveyard but as they were on the road, suddenly a doe ran over, making the truck skid on the asphalt as she lost control.

And then suddenly… they were in the classroom full of students, some of them the girls had recognized, all of them the Butterfly's victims and then they saw a man in black loafers, white shirt and glasses and as Chloe and Rachel looked at his face, Chloe's blood boiled while Rachel's was starting to freeze.

"You! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Chloe yelled and jumped at Jefferson… only to fly right through him as she groaned while falling on the ground. "What the fuck?!"

Rachel turned around, recognizing some of the students, they were the Butterfly's victims and the girl sitting in the corner, with brown hair, the freckles…

"Max?" She widened her eyes in disbelief as Chloe quickly turned around.

The bluenette rushed quickly to her best friend, hoping she was real. "Max? Max? It's me, it's Chloe." But it was as if Max could not hear her. In fact, it was as if Chloe and Rachel were invisible to everyone in the room.

Both Chloe and Rachel were just idly watching the situation, Max getting reamed by an arrogant blonde wearing a black cashmere top and as the lecture ended, Chloe's former best friend was cheering up a depressed blonde in black sweater in the corner, promising another tea session.

Chloe smiled at her trying to be a good friend. And then she and Rachel saw Max talking to Jefferson but being introvert, shy…

She chuckled to see that her best friend has not changed that much. But Chloe was angry to see that she was talking with the bastard who killed her.

Then the duo followed Max to the corridor as they saw her wearing headphones and going to the bathroom. On the way, they had noticed a missing poster on which was…

"Is that me?" Rachel's and Chloe's eyes shot wide opened.

"You went missing… six months ago."

"I wonder what happened…"

"And who put those posters around…" Then they heard a door open as they saw Max enter the bathroom, washing her face and walking behind a stall as they all saw a blue butterfly landing on a cleaning cart.

As she was about to take a picture of the butterfly, Nathan burst into the bathroom stressed and Chloe and Rachel sneered in disgust as they saw him talking to himself.

"What a fucking weirdo, entering the girls' bathroom…" The punk said as Rachel nodded in agreement. But, what followed next, really surprised them. They both saw… Chloe, walking into the bathroom, with her usual rebellion attitude.

" _I hope you checked the perimeter as my step-ass would say. Now, let's talk bidness._ " Chloe saw herself check each stall.

" _I got nothing for you._ " Nathan retorted.

" _Wrong. You got hella cash._ " Chloe smiled as she thought that her alternate self could score money from Nathan while Rachel rolled her eyes. The alternate Chloe then glared at Nathan, provoking him further.

"Could you be any more stupid?"

But as Nathan pulled out his gun while trembling, all of the girls, even Max, who could not see them, covered their mouth in horror and as the gunshot followed, the tears prickled out until everything froze…

"What the hell?" Rachel gasped and then… everything rewound back to the lecture Jefferson was giving but this time... Chloe and Rachel watched in shock as they saw the freckled brunette rewind time to pass the class with no big problem this time.

"Cheater." Chloe chuckled as they saw Max impressing Jefferson and walking away from the class and rushing into the bathroom, repeating her actions up until the moment she took a photo of the blue butterfly.

"This looks a bit like ' _Groundhog Day_ '." The blonde said as the bluenette nodded in agreement.

And then Rachel and Chloe saw Nathan and herself and that moment when she was about to die was happening again.

"Please, tell me this is not really like ' _Groundhog Day_ ', cause I'll go nuts." Chloe muttered.

"I don't know… if Max can somehow turn back time, maybe she will stop this…"

"You think?" Her eyes widened and then she felt excitement. "That would be hella badass."

And to their surprise, at first they watched Chloe's alternate self get shot again until everything rewound a few moments back and they noticed that Max was turning on the fire alarm, giving the alternate Chloe an opening and escape.

"Nicely done, Max!" Chloe tried to high-five with her ex-best friend until she had forgotten that she was not really there as she fell right through the freckled girl.

"She saved you…"

"I think we should follow her." Rachel nodded and they followed Max as they left the bathroom.

As they left, suddenly they saw David Madsen in security outfit scaring Max until the Principal ordered the guard to turn off the alarm and Max lied to him about what happened in the bathroom, then she left the main building.

"Why does David have to be such an ass here?" Rachel crossed her arms as Chloe shrugged her shoulders. But as Rachel and Chloe left the main building, they were in a car park with Max talking with a boy with blue t-shirt. It was obvious he had a crush on her as the duo giggled while Max was treating him like a brother.

But their moment was interrupted by the last person they would expect.

Nathan was approaching Max and her friend, his face full of relentless rage as Chloe started to sneer at him and starting to get as angry as feral animal protecting her younglings.

"He's really nuts in any kind of universe." Rachel mumbled.

The second Nathan headbutted Warren and grabbed Max by her throat, Chloe lost it. "Get the hell away from her, you fucking prick!" She tried to attack Nathan, forgetting that it was not real as she fell right through him.

And as Rachel saw a rusty truck nearing them, she grabbed her girlfriend. "Chloe, look."

The punk girl saw herself looking at her former best friend, both of them disbelieved at seeing each other after all those years.

Then Warren tackled Nathan to the ground as Chloe's alternate self let Max into the truck and drove away while the unstable spoiled boy was kicking her truck while bellowing angrily.

"Hey, don't dent my baby, you asshole!" She yelled.

"At least you saved Max just in time, Chloe." Rachel held her hand, calming her down. Then the scene changed and both Rachel and Chloe was with her alternate self in her truck with her former best friend as the two girls watched how would their reunion turn out.

Little did they know that this was a beginning of not only rekindling their friendship but of an unbelievable adventure ahead of them…

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 _As much as I am entertained by the idea of Chloe and Rachel from alternate timeline/universe watching the adventures of Chloe and Max in the game's storyline, it would be too tiring from me to describe the whole game again and coming up with new dialogues so I am going to stop here and finish this story 'cause I've got not much of a clue how would Chloe and Rachel from alternate timeline react to find out what had actually happened._

 _Please review and tell me whether did you like this story or not and if anyone tries to come up with a fanfiction story, where Chloe and Rachel are watching the adventures of Chloe and Max in the storyline of **Life is Strange** game, I will be entertained to read it and I do not intend to make this fanfiction story that long._

 _With regards_

 ** _Bl4ckHunter_**

* * *

 _ **THE END**_


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